Behind the Scenes: Out for a Weekend Adventure
When getting out for this sunrise I had a specific shot in mind I wanted to shoot. Not to long ago, I shot a sunrise image in the fall. Later that spring, a massive landslide on Joffre Peak took off half the face of the mountain, altering the mountains look. While the peak was only a small element in the photo, I wanted to shoot the same landscape and show the difference between before and after. We got there just in time for sunrise, I set up my tripod and got the shot I was after.
“Shoot loose, edit tight”
I recently heard this quote and realized it applies to my shooting style pretty well. When on location, I try to take everything in, realizing not everything is going to work. Since I’m not paying for film it doesn’t directly cost me money to overshoot. I also have a pretty quick culling process on the backend, so it doesn’t add to much additional time editing. Shooting lots gives me the ability not to miss a moment but still only present the work later on that I feel stands.
With colour still in the sky, I wasn’t going to waste the morning out and stop shooting because I already got my intended image. I had a look around and saw the sky was lighting up behind me and different layers of mountains stood out. I capture a tighter frame, only featuring the mountains, then decided to back off to show the road and the fog rising off the lake.
Finding the composition was easy. I almost immediately found a spot I liked and got set up. The next part was waiting for a car. While this road is busy during the day, it doesn’t have to much traffic at 5:20 in the morning. It became a waiting game, with me hoping that a car would come through before the colour disappeared from the sky.
The highway was visible behind me, and I could see cars coming from a distance away. I was hoping a bright colour car would come along to pop in the image. Eventually, I saw an RV winding along the lake, even better, the large white wall of the camper would stand out against the dark forest. I rushed back over to my spot and double-checked my exposure to make sure the light hadn’t changed dramatically.
I usually try and keep my ISO as low as possible to reduce noise, but by doing so will need to have a slower shutter speed. For this instance, though I wanted to keep the RV sharp and not have any motion blur. I raised the ISO slightly, but still not anywhere close to a point I was concerned about noise. I shot my images and noticed not far behind was a car pulling a trailer. I used this opportunity to shoot another photo, and as luck would have it, there was a bit more fog rising off the lake.
While this wasn’t the image I originally intended to shoot, it became one of my favourites from the morning after reviewing it on the computer later in the morning. The sense of layers between the mountains and the lake and the small added touch of the human element of someone getting out on an adventure makes the image that much better.
Want to learn more about my image organization and editing process to keep things quick on the back end? I’ve put together a downloadable PDF guide to help: 10 Tips for Image Organization and Editing
Gear:
Canon 5d MkIV
Canon 100-400 f4-5.6 (220mm)
Settings:
1/800 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400
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Behind the Shot series where I tell the story behind my action, adventure and landscape photography and dissect the techniques and gear that was used to make it.